super storm sandy is responsible for over a dozen deaths in the u.s. leaving millions without power and billions in damage. federal, state and local resources will be pouring into the most affected areas as high winds and flooding continues into today. and with one week before americans fix their next president, thepossibility that the storm could impact a hugely important jobs report. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. i'm lynn berry. well, it was everything we feared, and it's not over yet. sandy has claimed at least 16 lives, left more than 7 million without power, caused massive flooding and paralyzed cities

and towns all across the northeast. it is no longer a hurricane, but it is a disaster. take a look at this brand new video as the roof of a shed is completely ripped away. this was during the height of the storm as it barreled into point pleasant beach, new jersey. that's one of the many spots along the jersey shore waking up to a mess this morning. first, more amazing video. from water the fire, 50 homes are destroyed as flames tore through breezy point section of new york city. firefighters were unable to use water from hydrants so they had to get water out of the ocean. serious damage in rhode island where the wind and waves destroyed homes and washed out streets. let's go back to new jersey, two dozen evacuees were forced to flee emergency shelters in atlantic city after the power failed. sandy made landfall in atlantic city just after 8 clox p.m. last night. here is heavy flooding, it was

all across the resort town. a 50-foot section of the boardwalk was completely lost in the super storm. back to new york, a spectacular explosion here at a power plant. it was all captured on video. more than 600,000 people lost power. battery park near the tip of lower manhattan was hit by a 13-foot storm surge, two feet higher than predicted. on twitter we found this image of a subway station completely submerged in water. new york is just one of several places where mass transit is shut down again today. in new jersey a transformer explosion sent a family running for their lives as power lines fell. firefighters couldn't put out the flames because of the live wires. then high atop manhattan skyline. watch as that multiton crane on top of the tallest residential skri scraper just flips over. this is in the heart of midtown manhattan. it's still dangling there this

morning after a storm that brought 100-mile-per-hour winds. in connecticut, heavy flooding trapped thousands of residents there. the governor calls it the worst water event in state history. in west virginia sandy brought snow and a lot more is on the way. sandy could bring more than two feet there and a foot to north carolina. the flooding trouble along the east coast is now a threat to places like upstate new york where they are sandbagging near lake on it as sandy's rath ends inland. nbc meteorologist bill karins has the latest. >> about 95% of the worst is over. that's the amount of damage that's been done. probably about 5% to go. i think the most extreme damage was done last night at that high tide cycle from atlantic city up the jersey shore and into the greater new york city area and out onto long island. the midnight high tide cycle along coastal connecticut. the size of this storm is so immense. it was only a category 1.

typically a category 1 does, but not epic damage. because the storm was so i'm meansly large, it was able to transport the water so efficiently. it was just like a big hand in a bathtub, just splashing the water along the beaches. it was forced to go inland. that's what we dealt with. the storm has weakened. it has moved into areas of south central pennsylvania. there's a lot of elements with it still. we still have a couple of high wind warnings along lake ontario and as we go through lake erie, spine of the appalachians and the philadelphia area. we could see minor wind damage. as of now, the winds are in the 20 to 30-mile-per-hour range. later today we'll be able to start the cleanup effort in those areas. some of the wind gusts were very impressive. a lot of people in the 60-mile-per-hour range, from philly to baltimore, d.c., new york. islip, new york, had 90-mile-per-hour gusts, one of the highest land gusts we saw. the other big story, lynn

mentioned the millions of people without power. it's freezing cold. the temperatures are in the 40s, windchills in the 30s in this region. it's only going to warm into the upper 40s today. usually when a hurricane goes by, people lose power, it's warm, it's the summertime. this is approaching november. we need the power back on in a hurry. >> bad combination. bill, thanks so much. right now we're hearing reports of a possible levee break in northern new jersey flooding towns of moon in that case key, little ferry and carlstad. for more we're joined on the phone with cath lyndon van, a bergen county executive. good morning. >> good morning. >> can you give us more details on this possible levy break. we're saying possible because we're not sure how severe it is. >> here is what we know. about 1:00 last night we got a call up in our emergency management coordination system that there had been a wall of

water coming through moonaukee. six to eight feet of water in some spots. a couple of inches in others. it's not the whole three towns, and there were no people involved at all. we don't know what caused it. what we've been doing since 1:00 this morning is concentrating on getting the people rescued. we had to mobilize hundreds of pieces of equipment and hundreds of people to get down there and clearly when you have that much water, the roads are blocked, too. you had to get to the people. we have airboats, every other boat you can think of. rescue teams, scuba teams, county mutual aid, state police, the federal swift water, county swift water. new jersey state urban rescue, governor christie has been terrific. what we've been doing since 1:00 a.m. is making sure we get everybody out. right now we're going to start going door-to-door. we'll start going door-to-door to make sure everybody ais okay

>> how many people are we talking about? >> they're small community little ferry has about 11,000 people. moonaukee about 2700. >> have you gotten reports from people saying they are trapped in their home? i would assume there were evacuation orders made for some of those areas. >> there were no evacuation orders firsted because there was no problem until this incident occurred and we don't know what it is yet. we have had people call us, sure. we've had them call and say they needed to be rescued. that's what we've been doing since 1:00 this morning, and we will continue to do until we know everybody is safe and accounted for. >> all right, kathleen donovan, i'm sure you have an extremely busy day ahead of you. we wish you the best in bergen county. >> thank you very much. >> you take care. now for a look at how sandy impacted travel in the northeast, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins. you think it's just happening in

the northeast. when we're talking travel -- >> we may have airports trying to reopen. we don't know when that will occur. the forecast in the northwest also had some light rain, that shouldn't cause too many airport delays. everyone in the west is fine, at least at your home airport. as we go across the country, i still think the airports from washington, d.c. to philadelphia will be able to open up as we go throughout the day today, especially washington, d.c. but to the new york city airports, not only do they have to deal with the windy conditions today, but there was water on the runways at laguardia and jfk, and they're right on the ocean water, the barriers got destroyed that are supposed to protect it from the water. they may have to replace and fix those barriers, too, because we have more high tide cycleñ to go. i wouldn't count on the new york city airports opening up today. hopefully they can as we go throughout wednesday. if you're flying in the east today, especially the northeast, you'll be lucky to get there.

that's a look at your national forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. we're going to continue to watch the weak system moving through the northwest with a chance of showers out there. flagstaff, arizona, will have a nice day. southern california looks good, too. san diego right around 75. we'll take another look at what the latest is with sandy coming up. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. one of the many heartbreaking stories associated with this storm, the backup generator at a major new york city hospital failed, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of patients. as the sun comes up on this tuesday, we'll have a much better indication of just how much destruction sandy caused along the atlantic coast and inland. you're watching "early to dash which.

. residents all across the northeast this morning are waking up and assessing the

damage from this super storm. monmouth county is one of the areas where sandy roared ashore. right now we have sheriff sean goldman. sheriff, thanks for being with us. i'm sure you're extraordinarily busy this morning. >> i'd like to say good morning, but we have some issues here in monmouth county. >> i would imagine so. the sun is coming up and you're getting the first few glimpses of the damage of the storm. what's it looking like? >> we have 228,000 without power here in monmouth county. that's pretty much the entire county in terms of accounts. we have 644,000 people in the county. our whole county is without power. that was to be expected. we warned our residents about that. we had major flooding particularly along the bayshore area and along the coast. the boardwalks are destroyed along the shore here in terms of

belmar, spring lake. we had a number of rescues last night, people standranded on rooftops. we had rescue teams to the extent they could do it safely extract some people. we've just formed a team. we're in the process right of, waiting for daybreak, so our team is on route up to the bayshore area. we'll start checking block by block. >> i can imagine it's going to be a difficult day for all of you. our thoughts are with you. best of luck in your rescue and cleanup effort. >> appreciate it. >> you take care. more than 7 million people along the east coast are without power and that includes hundreds of thousands in new york city. one unit at the indian point nuclear powerpoint north of new york city was shut down because of external electric grid issues. officials at the oyster creek

nuclear plan had an event warning because of high water levels. the system was out of service but is reported safe. an evacuation of 215 patients were evacuated at the height of the storm. the new york stock exchange in lower manhattan will be closed again today. hurricane sandy changed plans for late night with jimmy fallon and david letterman. both did their shows but did not have a live studio audience. sandy could cause a delay in friday's november jobs report. if that happens, what would the impact be on next week's elections? details on the race for the white house is next. you're watching "early today." like,

but if you really want to make an impact, vote. then, what matters to you and the people you care about will really count. you'll want to vote the more you know. here are some of the latest video from the northeast after the arrival of sandy. in rhode island residents will be out today assessing the damage done as powerful winds and waves destroyed homes and flooded others. streets have been washed out. trees toppled over and debris blocking roadways, but there were no casualties there. in milford, connecticut, it may take weeks to clean up the flood

damage from sandy. the storm surge at high tide filled the streets and buildings with water and much of that city is still without power. in new jersey, the weather channel captured a storm surge from sandy as it came roaring through point pleasant beach. it flooded streets, homes and whole neighborhoods as well. and the wind blew shingles and gutters right off homes, sending the debris into the raging water. ohio, indiana, michigan and other states are also feeling the impact of sandy. those details straight ahead. plus sandy's impact on the election. you're watching "early today."

this large historic weather event has so many elements to it. one of the ones that's most surprising to people is the fact that this hurricane brought blizzard conditions to the appalachians. it has happened before that a storm in stouth earn position has moved to the north and there's been snow in it. just the fact that it's happening again and it's a huge blizzard and for the most part it's close to where the landfall is, that makes it unusual. we have snow from michigan, ohio, a little trying to sneak into indiana. kentucky, west virginia and mountains of north carolina. we have seven different states with snow on the back side. as i mentioned, they're telling people to stay off the roads if possible in west virginia. there are still leaves on the trees there. they're in for their own destruction. forecast for the west today, a nice day like yesterday from

vegas to phoenix. cool with the morning clouds in l.a. we have showers once again in the northwest. the weather forecast doesn't look all that bad. just kind of hit-and-miss showers. not a rainout. sandy has essentially brought campaigning for the white house to a virtual halt. exactly one week before voters head to the polls. now there are reports that friday's final monthly jobs report before the election could even be delayed due to sandy. nbc's tracie potts has the latest on that and the candidate's schedules. tracy, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. normally they'd be making their final push a week before election day. but now sandy has reeked havoc not only on the campaigning but on millions of potential voters. instead of campaigning today as planned, president obama is getting briefings at the white house and warning americans. >> please listen to what your state and local officials are saying. when they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate.

>> reporter: eight states plus washington, d.c. were declared federal disaster areas before the storm hit. west virginia was added early this morning. president clinton filled in in ohio. >> he got up this morning and called me and said i got to go back right now, this storm is getting out of hand. i said, mr. president, that is the right call. >> reporter: governor mitt romney scheduled a storm relief rally in ohio today. he and paul ryan are urging supporters to donate. >> swing by, give a hand -- >> make sure we do our very best to help those being impacted by the storm. >> anything he says injects pure politics into it. so you want to be careful if you're the romney need to keep an eye on it, obviously. but don't necessarily try to get in front of the story in any way. >> reporter: one week before the election, polls are tied, but campaigning at a standstill. >> i am not worried at this point about the impact on the election. i'm worried about the impact on

families. >> reporter: families also affected by jobs, but the labor department is telling us this morning that the jobs report, the last one before the election due out on friday, will likely come out on time. they've had people crunching the numbers at home while the federal government has been closed. lynn? >> tracie potts in washington, thanks so much. as we button up this show, obviously a lot of people, we want to extend all of our thoughts to everyone along the eastern seaboard and around the country. >> there's a lot of people that lived in the east and moved west. i'm sure they have memories and friends and families. we haven't even seen the worst pictures yet. >> i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

the u.s. coast guard performed a dramatic rescue after hurricane sandy sank a piece of hd history. the rescue team pulled 14 people from the rough ocean along the north carolina coast. the hms bounty crew abandoned ship after it began taking on water on sunday. the coast guard later found the body of one woman and continued to search for the ship's captain. the hms bounty was used in the 1962 marlon brando film "mutiny on the bounty". a caravan of power crews hit the highway on monday. hundreds of florida utility workers are traveling to the nation's capital and neighboring counties to put the lights back on. the hurricane-experienced crews will assist atlantic coast utility companies with tree

removal and downed power lines. not ones to be left out of the twitter conversation, celebrities have been tweeting all day long, everybody has. many tweeted their support like zoe dechanel. she said my thoughts and prayers are with everyone stuck in the storm on the east coast including my dad. jimmy fallon tweeted on his show, midtown nyc is empty but we're still doing a live show. russell crowe is film his latest movie "noah," shooting on oyster bay, long island. production was forced to shut down due to possible flooding. emma watson, she's one of the stars, she tweeted, i take it the irony of massive storm holding up production of noah is not lost. >> that little structure could be somewhere floating in the atlantic right now. >> exactly. you see these pictures coming in. your hearts just go out to so

many of the folks out there where you know just the fires that we saw going in queens, our thoughts and prayers are with everybody all along the east coast. all day long you can stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here is a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. state governors join matt and savannah with the storm news. with seven days left in the final sprint to the white house, hear the latest details on how the candidates are weathering the storm. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.